Beta Boy
Beta Boy, his alter ego being Billy Banes, is a hero fighting for justice in the Ultimate Universe. His origins all lead to him becoming a villain, but he believes in hope and has chosen to fight the good fight! His costume design is notably similar to Justice's as he designed it based on his. His social grace is less than stellar but his heart is in the right place. That's why they call him Beta Boy! Origins Just an average boy with an average life. Well that’s how he saw it anyway. To everyone else he was anything but normal. A social recluse, an outcast, a loner. He never fit in with any groups, not even the nerdy types. As a result he spent most of his time at home alone. Well, he wasn’t alone, he always had the internet! With the internet he shaped his young mind, like so many of his loner peers did, forgoing social interaction to instead harness his imagination and intelligence. Years of downloaded comics later and the boy was fixated on the idea of heroes. He studied them, both fictional and real, and imitated them, both roleplay and larp, and was even starting to write his own comics. The connections between the ficitional world of heroes and the real world of heroes was absolutely fascinating to him. He was starting to get these things down to a science. Of course this didn’t do much for his social life. He was ignored by girls of course, and bullied by boys. And of course he didn’t have the courage to stand up for himself. He tried not to let it get to him. Didn’t they realize, this was exactly the type of thing that led to the birth of villains? He just did what he could, and bared the abuse. But mental anguish is not sanity’s best friend. The boy began to hear voices in his head, see figures in his dreams, and have visions of unseen worlds beyond his mortal trappings. He just used this muse to create more interesting comics. But after a streak of odd accurate predictions in his comics of real life incidents, such as crimes and terrorist strikes, he gained the attention of homeland security and the local authorities. He was stripped of his computer and placed under heavy surveillance, he was too young to toss into Guantanamo after all. Of course instead of trying to harness his power for good they treated him like a criminal. That didn’t go over too well with him. Without his computer and constantly being surrounded by people he was always on edge. His nerves were completely shot, though still unable to stand up to his new, even bigger bullies. Eventually he managed to escape and run away. It came as a shock. No one expected him to ever leave his parent’s house after all. He felt like he was starting to lose it. Maybe he belonged under surveillance, maybe he was a threat and a danger. He began to hear more voices, and seeing things that weren’t there, his day dreaming starting to run uncheck and lead to heavy hallucinations. One day he found himself in a world of fire before awaking in a cold sweat and screaming. He was starting to lose it, his eyes darkened from lack of sleep when he found himself just staring at his own corpse one day. He remained like that for a while, just staring at his own body, feeling totally disconnected from the world. Eventually he found himself floating back into his body and sitting up. It was a completely jarring experience. One that sent him crawling back to his parent’s house. It was a wonder that he was able to survive on his own for so long in the first place. He wandered back to his home, up to the front lawn, and up towards the front steps before just falling down to his knees. All that was there was a black, dead patch of land. Apparently the bad guys didn’t like the idea of someone giving away their secret plots. Eventually he woke up, lying in the center of that dead patch of land. Somehow he managed to have a good night of sleep for once. His head was a bit clearer now, but somehow he felt detached from the life he once lived. He could barely even bring himself to mourn the death of his parents. The boy was obviously destined to become a villain now. As he walked the city streets alone, looking dejected and destroyed, he wandered past a newsstand, stopping long enough to look over towards it. He caught a glimpse of a comicbook, one of those generic, shining symbols of freedom and justice on the cover, before looking over to the picture accompanying the article over Justice’s death. He looked away from them before shuffling off with a smile. There was always hope. He began to understand his powers. You could take the internet from the boy, but you couldn’t take the wandering and dreaming heart away from him. With a few visits to the costume shop, and a visit to the library to find some costuming books, he designed himself a costume for a few reasons. One, because every hero needs an awesome costume. Two, wearing a mask made it easier for him to move around in public without getting arrested, as apparently he had become a fugitive, as he found out upon running into the police at the library. And third, he found it easier to talk to people from behind a mask. Though not by much. Character History Yet to be determined. Powers and Abilities Astral Projection is his main power, the ability to seperate himself from his phsyical body and project himself into other planes. He uses this power mostly to access far off knowledge that he uses to affect the world around him. This could be in the form of eavesdropping on a criminal plan, or accessing bomb schematics, or if he is able to push it to a greater extent, accessing the knowledge of another dimension, perhaps to view technology outside of the world's current capabilities. Unfortunately all of this information usually comes from another person, meaning that he must actually talk to a person on another plane to gain any complicated knowledge. Given his less than stellar verbal abilities it could end up taking him a while to do this. Which ends up being a problem in more ways than one. It leaves his body vulnerable and... After using it too much his vacant body begins to work on its own, pulling from muscle memory and other random memories. His motions become chaotic, and his motives unclear, except for one thing. He always seems to be clawing desperately at emotions, like he's been wandering through the desert and is just dying for a cold, refreshing drink of despair and hatred. It's quite unerving to witness his body jerking and swirling in madness, attempting to climb its way into the minds of fully completed humans. It's best that he doesn't use his powers too much. Weaknesses and Flaws Total beta. Trouble conversing with people, especially women. Trouble doing anything around women.